Snacking subscription service Graze.com has pumped nearly $5m into US expansion - a market that has very, very big potential, CEO says.

The UK-headquartered healthy snacks specialist kick-started operations in the US a couple of weeks ago after extensive beta trials in January 2013.

Graze.com has built a production kitchen and offices in New Jersey and has also developed a logistics system ‘The Brain’ that uses data analysis from the US postal service network to decipher the quickest delivery route to customers.

Anthony Fletcher, CEO of Graze.com, said he had big hopes considering the size of the US market and desire for convenience and health among consumers.

“We’ve invested nearly $5m in the States, and we want a return on that. We’re thinking very, very big,” he told BakeryandSnacks.com.

“This is a market we only think will evolve,” he said.

Balancing mature UK business with US prospects

Graze.com has a well-established UK business that has been in operation for five years. The company offers over 100 snack options and distributes around 300,000 snack boxes per day across the country.

Fletcher said this experience and knowledge means Graze.com can transfer all its learnings over to the US.

“Of course we’re tweaking our position, but Americans, much like the British, are looking for more interesting snacks which are better for them, so the core positioning is therefore the same. But we are adapting to the local market.”

One major hurdle when entering the US was distribution, the CEO said, because the postal system is far larger and more complex with more carriers, different holidays and weather impacts.

‘The Brain’ has been developed to ensure the most reliable delivery system possible, Fletcher said.

Graze.com develops snack boxes according to consumer needs and desires based on data feedback

Online brings speedy innovation and consumer intimacy

The CEO said the integrated nature of Graze.com was conducive to business and enabled more risk-taking on innovation. He said the business was about the product and service but also the delivery system.

“What I’m quite passionate about is the model – manufacturing yourself and dealing with end consumers directly. The agility and speed of innovation that enables is definitely part of our success,” he said.

“The food values of a nation are very complex, but with this model we can launch a product and get instant consumer feedback… Being online, you have that customer intimacy, learning what works and what doesn’t.”

When developing a new product, Graze.com can push that out to a few thousand subscribers and listen and react to feedback, in some cases immediately discontinuing a snack.

“There are a lot of terms used in business like crowdsourcing, and I definitely see these as an element to our business. We thrive on feedback, whether from data and ratings or direct emails,” Fletcher said.

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2 comments(Comments are now closed)

They may have a good chance to succeed

As someone who has tried both Graze and Nibblr, I strongly preferred the variety and diversity seen in the Graze products over the Nibblr products. The first set of products from Nibblr I received were just variations of trail mix, while I had a larger assortment of flavors in Graze. My one concern is that the flavors may need to be more "americanized" - an example is mango chutney with pepper sticks. I doubt that a large percentage of those stateside know what chutney is, and it may be polarizing just by name without tasting it.

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Posted by J D22 January 2014 | 15h172014-01-22T15:17:16Z

snacks suck

There’s actually science behind that eating less meals actually increases satiety, has better control of food consumption, better weight loss, BETTER METABOLIC RATE (it actually increases with less meals), and for the diabetics, much better GLYCEMIC CONTROL

There was a study done on healthy males where one group ate three meals, while the other ate 14. At the end of the study the group that ate the three meals had increased satiety (felt fuller) but they decreased their hunger cravings throughout the day. Plus their Resting metabolic rate was increased in the three meal group vs the 14 meal group